According to research firm Gartner, global computer shipments totaled 90.3 million units in Q4 2012. That number represents a 4.9% decline compared to Q4 2011. Just last week, research firm IDC reported a decline of 6.4% from Q4 2012 compared to Q4 2011.

Analysts at Gartner believe that the problems with the PC industry go beyond a sagging global economy alone.

“Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by ‘cannibalizing’ PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

“This transformation was triggered by the availability of compelling low-cost tablets in 2012, and will continue until the installed base of PCs declines to accommodate tablets as the primary consumption device,” Kitagawa continued. “On the positive side for vendors, the disenfranchised PCs are those with lighter configurations, which mean that we should see an increase in PC average selling prices (ASPs) as users replace machines used for richer applications, rather than for consumption.”

Gartner reports that consumers no longer view computers as the number one gift item during the holiday season. The analytics firm also reports that the launch of Windows 8 did not have a significant effect on computer shipments for Q4.

Gartner ranks HP as the top computer maker in the industry with 16.2% of the market. Lenovo has the second place spot with 15.5% of the market and Dell has third place with 10.2% of the market. Rounding out the top five are Acer with 9.5% of the market and Asus with 7.2%.

The only two companies that actually grew in Q4 2012 compared to Q4 2011 were Lenovo with 8.2% growth and ASUS with 6.4% growth.

Desktop: yes (but not in a hurry)Mp3: noLaptop: Within the hourNetbook: noTablet: noDigital camera: noGPS: noPhone (smart or otherwise): within the hour

Now, I have no doubt 2013 will be The Year of the Tablet. But remind me how many years the netbook fad lasted? That's exactly how long the tablet fad is gonna last. Only difference is tablets wont disappear altogether when the fad is over. They have their niche uses.

This is wishful thinking on your part. The netbook market never grew to the size that the tablet market is now. It was also mainly a result of the recession, as the netbook first came out about the time the recession began. While economic times aren't great now, we aren't in a recession, and the tablet (iPad, really) came out in 2010, after the fear of the recession was receding. And iPads, cost more than netbooks, as much as the average cheaper/midprice notebook, and yet, they sold very well.

Sales are still growing at a terrific pace. Sometimes, we have to look at reality, and not what we wish were true.

I think you've pegged me as a fanboy of some sort, I'm just not sure what kind. I don't wish anything as far as tablets are concerned.

What I was trying to say is that Gartner (and now you) are overthinking this. It's smartphones that are here to stay. Tablets (like netbooks before them) are cute, new and great for children, noobs, and old-folk. Do you honestly think the teens of today will own a tablet in their overweight late 20s?

I just think once the novelty wears off people will realize tablets ore too heavy and just plain clunky for personal use. I can imagine them demoted to the section of the store which currently occupies Mp3 players and point&shoot cameras, in five years time.

I get the feeling that you haven't used a tablet for much time, particularly an iPad. I have to say iPad, like it or not, because, right now, that's the only tablet that lives in more than the world of content consumption. Maybe the Win 8 tablet will survive, but at a starting price of $1,000 with the needed keyboard, I'm not so sure how well they'll sell.

"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007